Anne Arundel To Get A New High School

SEVERENA , Md. (WJZ) — Anne Arundel County students are getting what officials consider some long overdue attention from the state.

Political reporter Pat Warren reports on plans for a new high school.

Comptroller Peter Franchot toured Severna Park High School and declared it’s time to replace it.

Students at Severna Park High School know the limitations of the 55-year-old building and, for the most part, take them in stride.

“There’s definitely complications with the building. It’s old. It has a fallout structure that doesn’t get used. We should do something useful with the field,” said student Chase Hearn.

“I think that the heating and the cooling could really be improved. All of my classes are different temperatures,” said Diana Otis.

That, and more, were duly noted by the state comptroller who, with the Anne Arundel County Executive and members of the House of Delegates, toured the school Monday. Its boarded windows, abandoned lockers and antiquated facilities are some of the problems they see.

“A leak and a problem they’re having with roofing in the science wings,” said Del. Cathleen Vitale.

“Talk about having to eat your lunch sitting in a hallway because there’s no room. It just jumps off the map,” Franchot said.

Anne Arundel County is taking a request for funding to build a new high school to the Board of Public Works.

“It’s clear that after having toured the school the comptroller sees the need, and the county’s been committed for quite some time now,” said County Executive Laura Neumann.

Sixteen-hundred students attend Severna Park High School.

“Regardless of what’s going on around the rest of the state, these kids deserve a decent facility and this is unbelievably inadequate,” Franchot said.

The new school will accommodate 2,400 students.

The funding request is $25 million.

That request will be included in what’s known as the Hope-A-Thon, where districts appeal for school construction funds each year.

Pat Warren joined the Eyewitness News team in 1992.
Pat came to WJZ from WBNS-TV in Columbus, Ohio where she had been a news anchor and general assignment reporter.
Her desire to give back to the community keeps Pat involved with many...